Chorale
by RukoYukine
Summary: The X-Men have lost several members in the Sentinel wars and have disbanded. When a mutant girl named Lily comes to Gambit asking for help, he can't refuse. Gambit joins up with the X-Men and slowly, Lily and her friends help the X-Men come to terms with their pasts and their futures.
1. Chapter 1: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass

_They're right behind me,_ she ran and ran until she felt like she would drop. No, she couldn't drop. Not yet, anyway. They needed her. What would they do if she had been caught, too?

_Just a little further! You're almost there!_ She knew she was close. She could feel it. Besides, there was the hotel. She had to get to him. She had to get away from _them_. She was so, so close!

She ran straight up to the door. She tried the handle, throwing her weight into it. _No good,_ she thought frantically, _locked!_

Holding the handle, she sighed. There was only one thing she could do, a trick that only she could do out of all of the four girls. Smacking her hand against the door, she could feel the vibrations moving the lock, turning it so that she could enter.

Slipping inside, she relocked the entrance. She pressed her ear up against the door, not daring to breathe until she heard the Sentinels pass.

_Clear_, she thought, waiting a full ten seconds until she was sure they were gone.

Just as she exhaled, she looked up to find herself staring into a pair of brilliant red eyes.

"So, _petite_," the man she faced drawled with a heavy Cajun accent, "Thought you'd break into _ma maison_, huh?" He flipped a deck of cards from one hand to the other, left to right, right to left, over and over again.

She didn't trust herself to speak, but she knew by his eyes, the cards, and the accent that he was the one she had been seeking.

"Question is," the man continued, "why?" He drew out a card, held between two fingers. "I guess you don't know who I am, or else you're just stupid to break in here."

It was a threat. She knew about these people. She had to speak. Finally, she said, "I know who you are."

"Oh really?" he raised one eyebrow in interest, amused by her answer. "So you know about my power and you still broke in, _petite_?"

"No," she spoke firmly. "I need your help."

"My help?" he repeated. "Tell me, what's your name, hmm, _petite_?"

"Lily."

"How'd you know about me, or where to find me?"

"I-I've heard of you. You're Rémy LeBeau. Gambit. One of the original X-Men. Right?" Her voice quavered.

He smirked. "What do you need help with, _petite_?"

She wished he would stop calling her that. She wasn't that short. "I'm a mutant," she admitted. "My friends have been taken, and I need help rescuing them."

Gambit shrugged. "Nuttin' I can do about it, _petite_," he told her.

"But you were one of the X-Men!" she protested. No! He couldn't reject her! She needed his help! She needed _all_ of the X-Men's help.

"I ain't riskin' my life to help rescue your friends. If they've been taken by the MRD, they've been taken."

"You don't understand, do you?" Lily screamed, mortified as the hot tears spilled out. "My friends? They're dangerous! We're dangerous, together. This is a trap! If they get me, too, you can just say good-bye to everything you know!"

"What do you mean?" he asked, suddenly intrigued.

Lily twirled one blond pigtail awkwardly. "I don't suppose you'd get it, but there're four voices in a chorale."

To her surprise, Gambit nodded. "Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass," he said. At her shocked expression, he added, "_Petite_, I've had a lot of experience in this world."

"Well," Lily continued, "we're kind of like that. Ruko was taken first. She was tenor, kind of a weaker voice, but she was… well, we were all really close to her. She was like our leader, but not really. It's hard to explain… like, like an older sister, I guess. Emotional support. She was the oldest by a few months."

Gambit nodded, waving his arm for her to go on.

"Then, Gianni was bass. She was like shadows: really mysterious and dark, but you know, at the same time, deep and rich. She was strong, and her voice was beautiful. She was a beautiful person, even if she never thought so. She kind of blamed Ruko's disappearance on herself, and when she went looking for her, the Sentinels took her." At this, Lily paused. "I've known her since I was really little, and she always looked out for me," she said quietly.

The X-Men regarded her for a second before gesturing her to continue her story.

"Harmony was taken just yesterday," Lily whispered. "It happened right in front of me. She was such a strong voice, too, our soprano. She seemed to fly through life without really being there, you know? A free spirit, just like a soprano voice. She always was so cute, and we were all happy when she was happy. If I had to describe her, I'd have to say that she was quirky, but it was her quirks that made her so loveable. It was awful to see her taken down by the Sentinels."

"So you're the alto?" Rémy asked.

"Yeah," Lily responded.

He turned, the tails of his trench coat swinging behind him as he walked away from Lily. Turning back, he asked her, "What's your power, _petite_?"

"I can't tell you," Lily asserted. "It's too complicated to describe right now."

Gambit nodded and turned away once again.

"Where are you going?" Lily demanded, desperate.

"To get the X-Men. Pack your bags, _petite_, we're going to save your friends."


	2. Chapter 2: Tuning

Note: I realize timelines and memories are inconsistent. Please bear with it! Everything will make sense in the end! Also, if you realize what's going on in Lily's head, PM me! DO NOT WRITE A REVIEW WITH WHAT YOU THINK IS HAPPENING! NO SPOILERS! This chapter wasn't proofed by Kiiroi, my X-Men expert, so please don't be angry if some parts are inconsistent. I will change any issues that you may notice. Thank you!

* * *

"I don't understand where we're going! And can't you slow down? We're breaking at least ALL of the traffic rules, and the Sentinels are sure to spot us!" Lily complained as she hugged Gambit's trench coat tightly. Not that she was afraid or anything, but this guy drove a motorcycle like an alcoholic on caffeine who had gone without sleeping for three days – that is to say, badly and illegally.

The man laughed. "Gotta keep up, _petite_! The quicker we get help, the quicker we rescue yo' friends. Now ain't dat what you want?"

Lily didn't say anything. She buried her face in the trench coat.

"_As-tu peur, petite_?1" Gambit asked as he felt the teenager's face burrow into his spine.

"WHAT?!" she screamed. "Sorry, but no hablo Gambit!" The girl clearly didn't know any French.

"_Quoi_? You mean to say you don't understand _ma langue maternelle, petite_? My mother tongue, I mean," he added quickly, because he could sense that she didn't.

"I know a little Spanish, but no, not French. Gianni and Ruko learned French." She stiffened as she said this. Why did he have to keep reminding her of them?

"I asked," he shouted over the roar of the bike and the wind, "you afraid, _petite_?"

"Fat chance!" she screamed into his jacket. "I just feel like my face is peeling off, and I'd appreciate having a face when I see my friends, thank you very much!" she quipped.

"_Bien sûr, petite_," he chuckled.

If Lily hadn't been so terrified with her face in his jacket, Rémy swore she would have shot him a dirty look.

"_Petite, n'aie pas peur. Nous sommes arrivés_,2" he told her.

Lily, sensing the wind had stopped, lifted her face tentatively. At Gambit's amused smile, she glared at him before hitting the air in his face, sending him flying at least 7 meters back until he lay sprawling on the ground, completely winded. The vibrations responded to her command just as they always had since she was little.

"You *******!" she screamed. "You could warn a girl first, and you could have gotten us killed! How dare you smirk in my face like that!"

"M****," Gambit muttered, swearing bitterly in French. He hadn't known that the girl could do that. He'd made a promise, though, and he couldn't really ditch it, now.

Lily disregarded him as she walked up to an old, bent gate, rusted and contorted now, but she knew it must have been grand once. She wrought her fingers around the bars. Her head pounded. She knew this place, but from where?

The world was blurring over. To the right of the gate, there was a plaque on the brick. "The Xavier Institute," she whispered, reading off of the plaque.

She couldn't see anything. The world was so blurry. Great shivers ran up and down her back as she choked, feeling her body heat fluctuating. Her eyes were hot, little pinpricks kept jabbing into the backs of her eyes. Only when she closed her eyes to relieve the pain and to clear them out did she realize that her lashes were wet and that she had been crying. _The Xavier Institute for Gifted Young People…_

Someone behind her cleared his throat. "_Qu'est-ce que tu as_, _petite __3_?" Gambit asked.

Quickly, Lily wiped away the tears, not allowing herself to feel weakness. "I'm fine," she said in a throaty voice. "I just… I had a moment… the feels…"

She shivered. She remembered when Ruko had gotten the feels… well, it wasn't pretty, and at the time, Lily had thought it was kind of funny how Ruko had reacted to her feels. She didn't want Gambit to think the same about her.

Pushing the air in front of the gate, there was a whoosh, and the iron gates opened to Lily's command.

"Well?" she demanded. "Why did you bring me here, anyway? Are you going to lead, or not?"

Gambit smirked, his saucy smile back. "I thought you'd never ask, _petite_."

She followed him as he pushed open the front doors. Evidently, the X-Men hadn't used this place in a while. The beautiful rooms that had once been filled with mutants living together now were deserted. The plush chairs were empty, the walls were faded, and cobwebs hung from the chandeliers. The walls were crumbling. It had been fifteen years since the X-Men had last been together in this mansion. Before, it must have been happy and luxurious. Now, without its inhabitants, the mansion looked creepy, like someone who died from starvation due to anorexia, a mere shade of what it once was.

"Why are we here?" Lily demanded.

Gambit kept walking like he knew the place. Well, Lily reasoned, the guy had broken in here before.

"Always start at home, _petite_, dat's where you'll always find at least some o' da answers."

Lily didn't comprehend until he stopped in one of the hallways in front of a door. As Lily walked up, the doors slid open electronically. She was impressed. She didn't think there was any technology in here that still worked. That certainly explained the fluorescent lights in the hallways and the high-tech feel of these side corridors.

The door led into a room with a glass window and a control panel with a lot of buttons and switches. She flipped on one of the switches, and at first, nothing happened. Then, she heard a crash, and she realized that the room was actually suspended above another room. She glanced through the glass window and saw lasers shooting in the room below. Gasping, she figured that she was in some kind of control room or observation deck.

A man's voice, not Gambit's, muttered, "Don't touch anything!"

Lily turned, shocked, to see an average height man with cracked goggles, black hair that stuck up straight, and a scruffy little beard. He switched the lasers off.

"Sorry about that," he spoke as way of greeting, "but the Danger Room is kind of my baby, and I don't appreciate it getting messed up again."

Lily stared at him, gaping. Where had this guy come from? More importantly, was he a mutant hunter?

He stuck out a gloved hand. "I'm Forge, by the way. You are?"

"Lily," she stammered, shocked.

Forge ran one hand through his already messy hair. Lily thought he kind of looked like a mad scientist, especially since he referred to the Danger Room as his "baby." Who the heck worked on something like the "Danger Room," anyway?

Mistaking Lily's flustered expression for confusion, he explained, "The Danger Room was like a training room for the X-Men. I miss the team," he sighed. "Even if they did break my babies all the time…"

"You were one of the X-Men?" She was starting to remember Forge slightly now, but in her thoughts, he was about fifteen years younger. That simply wasn't possible, especially since she had only heard the girls talk briefly about Forge. Gianni had mentioned him when Harmony complained about the girls' lack of technology.

He nodded grimly. "We had some pretty good times," he told her. He patted the control panel. "Logan and some of the others liked to trash her up pretty good. I'd fix up the Blackbird, too." He sighed, obviously nostalgic for the times when he would tinker with these machines for a purpose and not just for lack of anywhere else to go.

He looked up. "How'd you get in here, anyway?"

Lily glanced around the room furiously, but Gambit was nowhere in her line of vision.

"I – "she began, afraid to anger Forge.

"I helped her, dat's how," the Cajun said from behind her. He was grinning.

Forge was not.

He raised an arm, and Lily saw it change into a – bazooka? – right in front of her eyes.

"You," he snarled.

"_Oui_," Gambit smirked.

"What?" Lily asked, confused.

"This guy's a thief. Tried to steal a special mutant inhibitor collar I designed to help mutants," Forge spat.

"The times have changed, _non_? " Gambit asked. The fool was still smiling. "You live and let live, _c'est la vie_," he announced.

Forge looked like he was getting ready to shoot him.

"Please, Forge," Lily begged. "Gambit's not that bad. He's just a jerk! But I do need his help, and he says that you can help us!" She stared at him with large green eyes, hoping that she could change his mind.

[_**Please?**_ _He looks at me. Come on, say yes, just say yes!_

_**I don't know… I don't really feel like I belong…**__ Oh gosh, that expression… he's confused, but it's so wonderful. I love it, we're connecting, I can feel it._

_**You'll fit in just fine! Please?**__ He doesn't want to go. It's a party. He doesn't like parties. Let loose just a little, why don't you? You won't refuse me will you?_

_**Fine…**__ He's reluctant. Oh well. I got him to go! He's really going!_

_He smiles. __**Promise you'll dance with me and won't leave me alone?**_

_**Promise!**__ I try to look into his eyes before I remember. I don't see them, only my own reflection in the dark red lenses of his sunglasses. Always he wears them, even at night. Still, I can't help but feel like I can see through them, through his eyes, into his soul._

_He's so good. He doesn't know about all the other stuff that's been happening behind his back. He's so wonderful and perfect and… I love him._]

Lily flinched, holding her head. She didn't understand where that memory had come from. She was pretty sure that she had never seen that guy before ever in her life.

"Please?" she asked again, softly. Gianni could always make people do what she wanted. They would feel fear, or joy, or sympathy, but somehow, she would get her way.

She wanted to cry. She was the closest to Gianni. She missed her friend. She had to find them.

"Fine…" Forge acquiesced. He sounded just as reluctant as the man in the memory.

"Awesome!" Lily exclaimed. "So… how are you going to help us?"

Forge looked at her. "I thought you knew! I'm not really good in battle."

Lily looked at him strangely. "Gambit said he was going to help me get the X-Men back together. Weren't you one of them?"

It was Forge who stared, this time. "I was more like tech support. Your communication needs some fine tuning if you thought I was a fighter."

"Tuning? Like, to make sure everyone's singing correctly?"

"I meant more like, fixing up and running smoothly," Forge corrected her.

Lily turned on her patron. "So?" she demanded. "How was he supposed to help us?" She was impatient. Her friends and everyone's lives were on the line, here!

"He can contact the X-Men, _non_?"

Lily turned again to Forge. "Can you?"

Forge nodded. "Yeah, just give me a sec."

He started to tinker with wires and a radio that was sitting nearby. Lily hoped this would work.

And she hoped that his communication skills didn't need tuning like hers did.

* * *

Translations:

1.) Are you afraid, little one?

2.) Little one, don't be afraid. We've arrived.

3.) What's wrong, little one?


	3. Chapter 3: Rubato

Note: This wasn't proofed by my X-Men expert, Kiiroi, so if you see any inconsistencies, please notify me. Again, if you figure out what is going on in Lily's head, PM me. YOU ARE NOT TO WRITE IT IN A REVIEW UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! This is to avoid spoilers in case of a correct conjecture. This chapter was cut a bit short, but I just had to get it in. Enjoy!

For anyone who doesn't know, _rubato_ is a musical term when the beat is slowed down and then sped back up to keep time. The title will become clear as the chapter progresses.

* * *

[_He smiles at me. I smile back. This is the first time. I didn't know that there were others like me. Well, I did. I mean, the guy with the helmet who approached me, and the Professor, they were definitely others like me. I didn't know there were others that were my age, though._

_ He's a bit weird. His hair is brown, a little too long. Teenage boys and their hair, it's like they think they look cool. They probably do think so, but they normally don't. This kid's hair is scruffy, though. I wonder if his mother and father know? Or, what did the Professor say? He's an orphan? Poor thing… I can't imagine what it'd be like to lose my parents._

_ I can't see his eyes. I can't imagine what he feels to be an orphan, to be hated. Still, I can feel a really solid connection with him. Not just any connection, either. It's a mental connection – maybe even attraction._

_ I look down. This is the first time I've ever felt this way… Wow… is this what it's like, love? Or am I only deceiving myself?_]

Once again, Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts. What the heck was going on? She was positive that she had never met that boy. At the same time, though, she was sure that that boy was the same as the man from the other memory.

_It's probably all from a dream or something_, she thought to herself. _Maybe Ruko can help me with it when we find her. Those feelings… Maybe Gianni can get rid of them? And Harmony knows about delusions… Surely, my friends can help me?_

She didn't want to think those words: _But what if_...?

She watched as Forge watched Gambit warily. The Cajun was reclining in a plush armchair, shuffling his deck of cards. He regarded Forge with an amused air.

Forge sat messing with an old radio transmitter. He was muttering to himself. Lily was pretty sure she caught the words, "No good rotten thieving little son of a gun," but she didn't care to mention it to Gambit who seemed to be perfectly calm.

"_Tu es sûr que la radio marche _?" (1) he asked.

Forge didn't answer, either not understanding what Gambit said (_more likely not trying to understand_, Lily thought), or not caring to respond.

The tension between the two men, or, rather, the hate waves coming off of Forge, was so strong that the air around Lily seemed to be solid, the atoms packed much more tightly together. She wondered whether she would end up with cubes in her lungs if she inhaled. She decided to risk it and took a deep breath.

As it is, she inhaled a mouthful of snow and ice.

_What the - ?_ she thought, bewildered.

The answer was soon made clear. A blue, icy figure stood in front of her, Forge, and Gambit, grinning wildly. He looked young, with spiky hair and a devilish smile.

"Hey, Forge," he bellowed. "Let's get this party started!"

Lily stared at the newcomer. Was _everyone_ on the X-Men completely nuts?

The man regarded her for a second. "Who's the newbie?" he scoffed.

Lily glared. "Lily," she said stonily. "Or, if you prefer, my code name is Reality."

"_Vraiment_?" (2) Gambit asked. Apparently, Lily hadn't told him a lot of things. Not that she cared. She knew that the man held even more secrets that she held.

"Reality, huh?" the young man inquired. "Well, I'm Bobby, Bobby Drake. Ice-Man. You may have heard of me," he added cockily.

"Yeah, I've heard you were a bighead," Lily retorted.

"Hey, big head equals big brains," he countered.

"Or empty space with nothing to fill it," she returned, rendering the hero speechless, He gawked at her, unable to think of a response to her quick wit.

The four of them waited for a few more minutes when a puff of vivid, red smoke appeared out of nowhere. When the smoke cleared, a strange figure with blue skin and glowing yellow eyes stood before them, a strange, blue, devil's tail whipping behind him.

"I vos vundering ven ze X-Men vood come back," he said softly with a thick German accent. Lily thought his voice was actually quite pleasant.

This time, she didn't wait for him to ask. "I'm Lily, or Reality," she told him by way of introduction. "You're Nightcrawler, right?"

"Indeed I am, Fraulein," he stated. "It's an honor to meet you," he said as he took her hand in his gloved, three-fingered hand and kissed it softly. Lily felt the soft fur of his lips brush against her skin. She blushed. _Finally. A gentleman_.

He smiled, showing off oddly pointed teeth.

"But you know," he said, "I can be quite scary." He growled playfully, whipping his tail around her shoulder before teleporting her up to the chandelier. Lily found herself hanging to the chain.

"That the best you got?" she demanded. If she could survive Gambit's driving, she was pretty sure she could withstand this.

Nightcrawler grinned and put her back down.

"Okay, so, let's get going," Bobby huffed impatiently.

Lily was confused. "What about the others?"

"What others?" Kurt inquired.

Lily gawked. "Wolverine…"

"Dunno," Bobby told her.

"Colossus – "

"Dead."

"Phoenix?"

"Dead."

"Cyclops?"

"Brooding over Jean."

"White Queen?"

"Brooding over Cyclops ignoring her while he's brooding over Jean."

"Rogue?"

"No clue."

"Beast?"

Bobby paused. "Last we saw him," the young man answered, his usually cocky face very grim, "he was taken by the MRD. We don't know his whereabouts or what happened to him."

"Oh." Lily didn't know how to respond. Should she apologize? No, best to just keep going. This was a setback, so she would just keep plowing ahead, stealing back time. She needed to find the others before it was too late.

"Angel?"

Again, Bobby paused. "He's…, well, it's Archangel, now."

Lily hesitated. She didn't want to bring pain onto the X-Men, but she had to know what other backup they had. "What about Storm?"

"Africa."

"Shadowcat?"

This time, a woman's voice answered from behind her. "Right here."

Lily whipped around to see a woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, standing in front of her. She had kind, gray-brown eyes and reddish-brown hair.

"I'm Kitty Pryde," she introduced herself, holding out a gloved hand.

"Lily Glace," she responded, shaking Kitty's hand.

The two women stood awkwardly for a moment. Kitty had heard the conversation, obviously. Bobby looked down at his feet. He seemed uncomfortable now that Kitty was here. Kurt had a brooding expression, clearly remembering old times. Forge continued to regard Gambit with distaste. Only the Cajun seemed perfectly at ease.

"We should be goin' den, _petite_," he drawled. "_Allons-y_." (3)

He started to proceed, but Forge pushed him out of the way. "I'll drive," he snarled.

"_Quoi_? You don't trust me, _Monsieur _?"

Forge muttered something about rather letting Bobby drive.

Bobby and Kitty were trying hard to ignore each other, with Kurt walking in between them. _What's with that?_ Lily thought they were both acting really weird.

As the odd group boarded the plane, Lily wished they'd hurry it up. They had to make up for lost time.

Unfortunately, not twenty minutes had gone by before the plane began to lose altitude, and everything lurched.

"Forge?!" Kitty yelled. "Can you fix this?"

"I'm not sure!" Forge yelled back. "I think something's interfering with the engine, or we're being shot down or something! It's not from the inside!"

_Oh, that's just great_, Lily thought bitterly. _Now we REALLY have to make up for lost time_.

* * *

Haha, yeah, so we meet some of the other members of the team. They're not much of a team, are they? Ah well, you'll see what happens. :)

Translations:

1. You're sure that the radio works?

2. Really?

3. Let's go.


	4. Chapter 4: Animato

New characters! Lonnie and the boy (his name is Talinn) are OCs. This chapter wasn't proofed by my X-Men expert Kiiroi, so please contact me with any inconsistencies to the characters. I had wanted to do a whole battle in this scene, but it took forever to just get them here, so I ended it right before the fight. Sorry, guys. :) Any constructive criticism would be welcomed! Thank you!

* * *

The turbulence was strong. Lily was so jostled that her knee hit her chin, causing vibrations to run down her mandible.

"W-what's the p-p-problem?" Kitty shouted. Her phasing ability didn't stop the turbulence from affecting her, causing her to stutter.

"N-no id-d-dea!" Forge responded. "Can y-you or N-nightcrawler see w-w-w-what it is-z-z-z?"

"On it," Kitty shouted back, grabbing the armrests of her seat before phasing downward.

Within seconds, she resurfaced. "Y-you're n-n-not gonna like th-this, F-Forge!"

"Vot is-z-z it?" asked Kurt, who was concerned indeed.

"We're b-being attacked! C-can you g-get us d-d-down?!"

"No!" Forge replied. "We're f-flying d-d-d-d-directly ov-ver a s-s-city! We c-c-can't risk l-landing!"

"I'll handle it!" Lily volunteered, shocking everyone.

"_Non! Tu n'es pas prête! N'en fais pas, petite !" _(1) Lily was shocked that the Cajun would stand up for her. It was almost like he cared. She couldn't really understand what he said, but she knew by his tone that he was telling her not to go.

"Shadowcat, phase me down!" she commanded.

Kitty squirmed a little. "I don't feel comfortable sending a kid in to fight our fights."

"I'm not just a kid! Just do it, already!"

"No! Gambit's right! You're too young, and you haven't had the experience!"

"Are you kidding me?! I've been running from the Sentinels since I was a kid! I can hold my own!"

"No! I'm not going to! Listen to me, Tildy - !"

"Tildy?" Lily asked, confused.

Kitty, realizing her mistake, looked down. "Look," she said, "This wasn't the first time we've had a kid on the team… I don't want… I just don't want another innocent child to lose her life because of us. It's a vicious world, and we've accepted that as X-Men… I…"

"Bobby?" Lily pleaded. The man shook his head.

"Sorry, newbie. Gonna hafta agree with Shadowcat on this one."

"Kurt? Please?"

He regarded her before shaking his head. "_Nein, Fraulein_," he said. "Ze uzzers speak ze truse. Ve can't let you go into a fight, especially not vis, who vos it, Kitty?"

Kitty looked at him gravely, "Quicksilver," she said in disgust, "and his new troupe."

Lily stared disbelievingly at the X-Men. They _had _to let her do this. "I'm not a child!" she screamed, but this only seemed to convince them even more that she was really just a kid.

She glared them all down. "So these are the famous X-Men," she reprimanded them. "Afraid to take a risk, willing to just be shot down out of the sky. Tell me," she glared pointedly at all of them, "How are you any different from Cyclops, brooding over what can't be changed?"

At this, all of the X-Men lowered their heads in shame and refused to meet her eyes. They knew what she said was true.

Finally, Lily spoke, more softly this time.

"Trust me," she entreated them.

Nightcrawler looked up and got up from his seat. He walked shakily down the aisle, as the plane was still shaking. "I trust you, Fraulein," he said, as he grasped her hand.

Before Lily knew what had happened, she was standing in a ferocious wind, nearly falling off the side of the plane. Kurt grasped her and held her tightly.

"Vot are you going to do, Fraulein?" he asked, desperate. "Ve can't stay out here for much longer!"

Lily , glancing at the ground, thought she saw a streak of white fly by.

Shutting her eyes, she concentrated her thoughts on the white streak, anyone the streak might have been working for or with, and the jet and the X-Men. She waved her hand in a forceful motion, collecting air in her fist before letting it go.

"Now, Nightcrawler!" she screamed. "Take us back in!"

He did so, causing Shadowcat to shriek as he landed on her lap.

"You can land now," Lily stated simply.

Forge stared at her bewildered. "Where are we?" he asked dumbly as he landed the plane.

"A place I know well," she told him, not offering up any more explanation.

The team got off the plane, shocked to find themselves standing in a clearing full of Queen Anne's lace.

A sudden gust of wind blew by, accompanied by a barely visible streak of white, and a girl about Lily's age, maybe a little younger, stood in front of them, glaring.

"Where-are-we?" she demanded, speaking so quickly that it sounded like one word. She had eyes that weren't quite dark blue but were deeper than normal blue, and her hair fell in white curls, glinting silver in the sunlight. She was pale, extremely pale, with dark shadows under her large eyes, so skinny that her body resembled more of a child's than a teenage girl's, and bruised all over the arms, contrasting sharply with her pale skin.

Lily took in her tattered clothes: black shorts, a black tank top, and a patched, old brown jacket that was much too big for her. She kept tapping against the side of her leg, her hands fidgeting constantly. Lily felt sorry for this girl, with her skinny limbs and bruised skin. If it weren't for those eyes, those intense blue eyes, Lily would swear the girl was a ghost.

"Who are you?" she asked quietly.

"I-asked-you-first," twitted the girl. "There's-no-way-any-of-the-_X-Men_-did-this-and-moved-us-here-so-it-must-have-been-y ou-it-was-you-I-know-it-was-admit-it-why-don't-you ."

"This is my home," Lily told her. It was true. This was where she had first met the girls. They had taken her in in this very clearing.

"_Cet endroit est très beau, petite, mais que fait-on ici?_" (2) Gambit asked. He was starting to get very annoyed. Lily's powers had taken them here, and Lily could see that he was just beginning to understand that this mutant girl wasn't as helpless as he had first made her out to be. _Serves him right_, she thought. _Maybe next time, he won't make fun of me_!

"Whatever," the girl said, rolling her eyes, as a man with the same hair color as the girl came running up, a streak of green and white. Behind them, a boy about the girl's age was struggling to keep up on his motorcycle.

"You know, Lonnie," the boy said, "Dad may have super speed, but I don't. So I'd appreciate it if you could slow it down a bit."

"You're-just-jealous-that-you-got-stuck-with-a-lam e-power-while-I-got-dad's-cool-mutation!" the girl, Lonnie, smirked.

Regarding the man, Lonnie beamed proudly, and almost desperately, asked him, "So-Father-did-I-do-good-huh? Father-did-I? I-did-good-right?"

The man regarded her with disgust. "You are pathetic," he spat. "After all that, and you couldn't even stop this kid from taking us here! What is wrong with you?!"

Lonnie looked taken aback. She flinched, and immediately, her hand flew to her arm, resting on a particularly nasty looking bruise.

"I'm-sorry-Father," she mumbled.

Lily whispered to Gambit, "Who is this guy?"

"Quicksilver," he responded. "He's one bad man, _petite_, one of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants."

"What about the kids?"

"The girl's his daughter. A petty thief who tries to impress her father. Poor fool always ends up with a beatin' sho nuff. _Le garçon est son fils_. (3) He kin inta-fere with electric frequencies, kinda like his grandpa, _mais _not really." He paused. "The boy was probably the one messin' with the jet."

"So…now what?"

"Now," Bobby interjected, " we fight. You ready for this, Reality? 'Cause I'm starting to like having you on the team."

Lily looked at the trio they were going up against. She didn't want to fight them, especially not the girl. She sighed. Sometimes, you had no choice.

* * *

Hope you guys liked it! :)

Translations:

1.) No! You're not ready! Don't do it, little one!

2.) This place is very pretty, but what does one do here (what are we doing here)?

3.) The boy is his son.


	5. Chapter 5 : Tempo

Continuation of the events of chapter four! So... new characters (again) and more events. I really am horrible at describing battles, so please forgive me! Hope you like it!

* * *

Lily honestly didn't know what was worse – beating the crap out of Lonnie or getting the crap beat out of her. On the one hand, she had to defend herself. On the other hand, fighting a girl who probably was used to getting beaten didn't seem to emphasize the fact that she was supposed to be a member of a super_hero_ team. Emphasis on the _hero_ part.

Unluckily for Lonnie, Gambit seemed to have no qualms at all about fighting.

"Ya eva fight like dis before, _petite_?" he asked while swinging his bow staff nonchalantly.

"Ummm… I…" Lily began, but before she could answer, she felt a sharp wind whirl around her and fell to the ground, something sharply hitting her in the ribs.

"_Fais attention, petite!_' (1) It wasn't until she noticed that Remy's bow staff was gripped tightly in his hands and swinging around, hindering a blur of white, that she realized he had pushed her out of the way to protect her from her opponent.

She wondered what was so dangerous about Lonnie until she saw a glint of silver as the girl came to a stop in front of Gambit. A split second later, she realized that Gambit was doubled over, collapsed, and Lonnie's hand was stained in blood. Only after that did she realize that Lonnie's mouth was dripping the sanguine liquid as well.

She knew why Lonnie was so dangerous: she was desperate, and desperate people can do anything.

She also knew that Gambit was in serious trouble – the knife wound was deep.

"Don't worry 'bout me, _petite_," he coughed weakly as Lily knelt by his side. "Just focus on not gettin' killed, eh?"

"Sorry-I-had-to," Lonnie whispered. Her voice was full of remorse. "It's-the-only-way…"

"The only way to what?!" Lily asked, bitingly. Gambit was going to die, and it was all because of this girl.

"The-only-way-the-Brotherhood-will-accept-me. It's-not-like-I'm-guaranteed-membership-you-know? I-gotta-earn-it-or-I-can-never-go-to-rest-in-Parad ise."

"Paradise? What are you talking about, you crazy ****?!"

Lonnie glanced at Lily tiredly, and the alto remembered that the girl was probably used to being insulted.

"Paradise. It's-a-place-just-for-us-mutants-no-humans-no-stri fe-ever. Father-told-us-about-it. It'll-be-like-heaven-but-for-mutants-but-you-X-Men -just-want-to-stop-us. You'll-have-us-living-as-second-class-forever-beca use-you-like-being-enslaved-by-humans. And-you're-cannibals," she added the last part as an afterthought.

Lily was bewildered. _First of all_, she thought,_ you're already treated like you're inferior. Second, it has nothing to do with humans and everything to do with the fact that your father and grandfather want to destroy humanity!_

"_Et qui a dit que nous sommes des cannibales _?" (2) Gambit's voice was weak, but he still seemed to be as much of a smart mouth as ever.

Lily glared at Lonnie. She waved her hand abruptly, causing the other girl to fly backward and hit the ground. Lonnie tried to get up, but with another wave from Lily, she fell back down, this time, unconscious. Unfortunately, as mentally taxing as the attack was on Lonnie, Lily was tired as well.

_What the heck? Since when did I have the power to put people to sleep with my wave pulses?_

She could barely keep her eyes open. She laid her head down… tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump… Gambit's heartbeat seemed to be getting slower.

_Oh no, no, no, no, no! You have to keep tempo! Otherwise…_

She thought she saw another streak of white, with green, this time, coming toward her. He was getting closer…and closer…and closer…and…

[_ I can't believe him! What's he doing, letting that tramp cling to him like that? Doesn't he see? Can't he tell? It's obvious that she's into him! And in that way! There's no way I can let him go!_

_**Hey**__. He stops. Shocked to see me. Is that _guilt_ on his face? What could he be guilty about? Unless… That little – she didn't!_

_**Oh, hey.**__ He smiles. That sweet chiseled face… it's his… it's mine! Why does she have to steal it? Isn't it bad enough that she waltzed in here, considering her past, but now she wants to steal him, too?_

_**I saw you**__, the smile drops off his face as I say it. __**Why were you with **__**her**__** again?**__ I sound desperate. I don't care._

_**Well**_**, **_he fidgets. He's uncomfortable. He doesn't want to tell me. It doesn't matter if he does or not. I could always just – no, I couldn't do that. I love him. I promised not to pry like that._

_**Well, what?**_

_**You're always with **__**him**__.__**...**__ I can't believe he just said that. Seriously? He was jealous? He was trying to get my attention._

_ Well. Two could play at __that__ game._]

Lily jerked upright, her head pounding. She observed her surroundings. She was in a bed in a room that she had never seen before. Or had she? She felt like it was somewhere in her memories, but at the same time, she was sure she had never been here before.

_Did I pass out?_ She wondered if she had been kidnapped.

"Gambit…" she mumbled.

"He's all right," she heard a woman's voice with a heavy southern accent respond.

Whipping her head around, she turned to find a young-ish woman with dark orange hair and white bangs watching her tenderly. She had a strange white streak of hair, and her hair was done up in three little ponytails on the back of her head. She wore a sad smile, and even more strange was that, although it was early in the summer and the room was quite warm, the woman wore long clothes and gloves, not exposing any skin except for on her face and neck.

"Where am I?" Lily asked, feeling as though she could trust this woman.

"You're in the X-Mansion, 'course," she told her. "We sure were worried. I stopped Quicksilver before he could get to ya. Boy, y'all sure did put up a fight, the way Bobby told it."

"Um… thanks…?" Lily had no idea what happened. "Did we win?"

"Yeah. When I came along, Quicksilver and his kids got there butts whooped and handed to 'em. Ain't no one can barbecue a couple a those idiots than me… or Logan, but he ain't around much."

"Who – Who are you?" Lily inquired, awed and confused. Upon uttering these words, Lily could feel her heartbeat speed up with excitement. Thump-thump-thump-thump thump-thump-thump-thump. The tempo kept getting faster and faster. She felt compelled to know. She swore that the woman seemed familiar, but she had never seen her before, she was sure of it.

The woman looked surprised, but she smiled sweetly at Lily. "Oh, sorry, hon. I prob'ly shoulda told ya, huh? My mutant name is Rogue. I used to be one a the X-Men."

* * *

Well, that's chapter 5... Give me any feedback you have on character inconsistencies, suggestions, etc. Thank you!

Translations:

1.) Pay attention, little one!

2.) And who said that we're cannibals?


	6. Chapter 5 and a Half - Tempo (continued)

Note: This chapter was not proofed by an X-Men "expert" of any sort. Please excuse any inconsistencies in the timeline, and if there are any character inconsistencies, please notify me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Wolverine and the X-Men and am in no way affiliated with the creators. All characters and storylines belong to their rightful owners.

This chapter is dedicated to xmenfan33 and to "Jon Beilschmidt" :)

* * *

"Will he be okay?" She felt so useless. Here she was, barely able to walk, and yet, she hadn't done any fighting last week. Remy had gone through the brunt of the battle. Lily felt bad. Really, she did. At the same time, though, she couldn't help but think, _That idiot! Why did he do it?! He's just gone and gotten killed!_ It wasn't that she was blaming him. It was just easier than admitting to herself that there was still a part of her that said, _Now that he's out of the way, I can get help from the X-Men. Proper X-Men who aren't known criminals or complete lunatics_.

Rogue smiled. "Don' worry 'bout him, sugah," she sang in her classic Southern twang. "He'll be good as new in no tahm – but if ah don't whup him fo' the last tahm we met, I ain't ne'er gone forgive 'im."

Lily was intrigued. "What happened last time?"

Rogue only smiled her mysterious smile. "That's a story for anothuh tahm," she said.

Meanwhile, she noticed that Kitty and Bobby weren't quite getting along as well as her and Rogue.

Kitty gently wiped the sweat off of Gambit's forehead as she phased the needle through his skin, making the experience as painless and comfortable as possible. "There, there," she crooned. The Cajun couldn't even be grateful. His fever was raging, his eyes glazed over, his core body temperature overheating like a nuclear power plant before it explodes.

"When did you get so good at nursing, Kitty?" Bobby asked. The question was obviously meant to be a jest, but it came out bitterly.

The softness and pity in Kitty's eyes disappeared, rendering her face smooth and emotionless. "I've learned a lot in fifteen years, _Robert_," she snapped, "while _some people_ are the same as ever."

Bobby looked hurt. "Geesh," he muttered, "and I thought _I_ was the cold one."

Kurt walked in carrying a tray with medicine and tea. "Back in Germany," he said softly, "the priests believed it vos better to talk zen to fight. But perhaps zey didn't predict vot ze X-Men vould be like, _ja_?"

Kitty and Bobby dropped their eyes back to Remy, ashamed of causing such inconvenience to a fallen comrade.

The sedative had taken effect, however, and Remy had slipped into sweet, blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

"Lève-toi, Rémy!" (1) he heard a sharp voice command.

As he opened his eyes, Gambit found himself staring at a blonde woman with hair in braids and a teasing smile. He felt his heart in his chest – running like a marathon runner to the finish line. This couldn't be real. It was too good to be real.

"Je vois que tu es toujours paresseux,"(2) she continued. "Quelle sorte de voleur es-tu? Je ne connais pas de voleurs qui dorment quand ils pourraient gagner de l'argent."(3)

"Et pourquoi est-ce que je dois gagner de l'argent, Belle, quand nous sommes mariés et ma femme est las princesse des tueurs à gages?" (4)

The woman smiled. "Parce que nous avons besoin de l'argent pour notre famille." (5)

He didn't think he remembered having a family, but hey, it had been forever since he had seen Bella Donna. He wouldn't be surprised if she had simply kept it a secret and hadn't told him before he had been banished.

Seeing Bella Donna again made him want to cry. He held it back because he was always told that a man had to do his duty. Remy had had no choice but to leave her. After all…

The scene faded, just as he reached out to touch Bella. He wanted to tell her he loved her one last time, but she was gone before he could whisper, "Je t'aime." (6)

The fog of the bayou rose up and subsided, leaving Remy to find himself in a tuxedo, standing before Bella Donna once again, but this time, a younger Bella, and a younger Remy, as well.

"Je suis nerveuse," (7) Bella Donna admitted.

"Ne sois pas nerveuse," (8) Remy chided her. "Belle, aujourd'hui, et toujours, tu es la plus belle fille que j'ai vue." (9)

Bella Donna beamed. Her wedding gown was stunning, accentuating her finest features. Remy thought to himself, _whoever said you can't party down in a swamp was a liar. In fact, down South, we have the best parties._

As the priest asked if he would take Bella Donna Boudreaux as his wife, Remy thought that he couldn't have been any happier. He was marrying the girl of his dreams, and even developing a shaky peace between the Guilds. What more could he ask for?

But even as he thought this, Remy knew something was going to go horribly wrong. He had a sense of déjà vu, as if he'd already seen this moment in his life.

Again, there was fog, and as the scene settled, Remy found himself reliving the worst day of his life: the duel with Julien Boudreaux.

Everything felt unreal. The punches Julien landed didn't hurt, and yet he knew he was weakening. At the same time, this heat, this pressure was building up inside of him. He didn't know how to stop it.

Julien took out a knife, intent on killing. Remy intercepted it, and before he knew it, it was lodged in Julien's shoulder. However, he suddenly also became aware of the power growing inside of him. It had somehow transferred over to the knife, which now glowed bright pink with energy. Julien's eyes widened, staring at the knife.

The world seemed to go silent. All Remy could feel was the coolness of his body now that the heat was gone. He watched as Julien, with the knife still lodged in his shoulders, watched in horror as –

Remy jerked awake, his fever broken. Julien and Bella Donna were gone. He was in the X-Mansion.

Rogue looked up from her chair. "Well," she chirped, trying to be cheerful, "Ah'da thought that you'd nevah wake up."

Something was wrong. Gambit could sense it. Why were ALL of the X-Men assembled in his room? And where was the girl?

"Lily…?" he croaked, throat still dry from his fever.

Forge cleared his throat. "She, uh, left a note," he whispered, as he handed Remy a folded piece of paper.

Remy's eyes scanned over the loopy handwriting:

_Dear X-Men,_

_ Gone to find help elsewhere. Hope Gambit's ok, don't worry about me. I have to help my friends. Thanks for everything._

_Lily (Reality)_

Gambit felt his heartbeat race like in his dream. They had to find the girl.

* * *

Translations:

1. Get up, Remy!

2. I see that you're still lazy.

3. What kind of thief are you? I don't know any thieves who sleep when they could earn money.

4. And why do I have to earn money, Belle, when we are married and my wife is the princess of assassins?

5. Because we need money for our family.

6. I love you.

7. I'm nervous.

8. Don't be nervous.

9. Belle, today, and always, you are the most beautiful girl that I've seen. (I may have botched up the grammar on this last sentence...)


	7. Chapter 7

New chapter! Sorry it took so long, but this one is slightly longer than my usual updates, and I've been busy. :) Hope you like it!

* * *

Chapter 7 – Staccato

"How kin we find her?" Remy asked. He was desperate. Lily had been gone for three weeks now. She was just a child. There was no way that she could survive on her own. "Yo' computah. Kin we use dat to try an' somehow figga out where she is? Like da Professor used ta do."

Forge shook his head. "Cerebro is built so that only a _telepath_ can operate it."

"Don't suppose you got too many o' doze, do ya?" Gambit inquired, dejected.

"I'm afraid not," Kitty told him.

"Den we just gone hafta find her de ole fashioned way," he exclaimed.

"Calm down, sugah – "Rogue began.

"_Mon dieu_! (1)" Remy cried. "_Elle est trop jeune ! C'est seulement une fille ! Je dois la trouver_! (2)" He was clearly distraught over Lily's disappearance, and the other X-Men couldn't help but squirm a little at his words. Most of them didn't understand these words, but they got the gist of what he was saying. They knew he was right.

"Well, if ah were a teenage girl, ah know ah wouldn't wanna be easy ta find," Rogue mused. "Y'all remember back when ah ran away from the X-Men, an' ah had gone to the Brotherhood?"

"_Excuse-moi, mais_ are you suggestin' dat we team up wit da Brotherhood ta find her?" Remy interrupted peevishly. "Cuz even ah know dat dat'd be a bad ahdea."

Rogue glared at him. "Jus' let me finish, Swamp Boy." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "As ah was sayin', I came back, but back then, there was a team ta come back to. We ain't much of a team now, are we?"

Rogue surveyed the room: Forge was barely listening, Gambit was still crazed with worry for Reality, Ice-Man stared at Shadowcat, Shadowcat was doing her best to ignore him, and it seemed that only Nightcrawler had been listening. Rogue sighed.

"So, vat are you saying ve should do?" Kurt inquired in a soft voice.

"We're gone need a leader," Rogue concluded.

* * *

"I can't believe this!" Kitty exclaimed. "After traveling all the way here to get him, we find that he's at a grungy motel – and that we don't know his stinkin' ROOM NUMBER?!"

"And anyway, how did YOU know where he was, Rogue?" Bobby asked.

Rogue looked at him queerly. "Bobby, ah've done a lotta travelin'. Whah, shoot, ah was surprised that y'all din't know Cyclops was here all along. Ah mean, it's not exac'ly a secret. Fact, ah've talked ta him plenty a times while he's been here."

"And how long is that?" a very irked Kitty Pryde wondered.

Rogue contemplated this for a second. "Prob'ly 'bout… 15 years or so," she finally answered.

Remy stared at Kitty and Bobby, stunned.

"You mean dat you nevah knew dat one a ya own was here in dis dump?" he said, surprised.

"Well, that," Kitty stammered. "I've been abroad," she declareded defensively.

"I've been… out of touch with the X-Men," Bobby chose his words carefully.

"I'll say," Kitty mumbled.

Rogue knocked on the door, but there was no answer from Scott. She knocked again, louder, but again there was no response. Gambit could swear he heard rustling and movement from inside the room.

The team went down to the lobby to wait. While Kitty, Rogue, and Bobby stood around, Remy went up to the concierge.

"_Madame_," he said, in his most charming manner, "Could you tell me what's going on in Room 224, _s'il vous plait_? He's a good friend o' mine, and ah don't know why he'd be ignoring me like dis," he lied smoothly. He and Cyclops had never been particularly close, but hey, it was half true. He _didn't_ know why Cyclops was ignoring him. Besides, Scott was a friend of the X-Men.

The concierge smiled slyly. "Room 224? Tall, handsome man who always wears reflexive red sunglasses?" When Remy nodded, she chuckled. "Oh, he and his wife have been living here for ages! Longer than I've worked here, in fact!"

"Wahf?" Rogue butted in. "He has a wahf?"

The concierge nodded. "Oh yes. A pretty woman with long blond hair. You'd think she's an absolute tramp, just based on her clothes, but if you really look closely, she's a really elegant person – she bears herself extremely well."

"Does she now?" this time, it was Kitty who spoke.

"Oh absolutely! She seems really uptight. You know, a bit of a rich girl accent. She told me she used to teach, up in Massachusetts."

The concierge's eyes suddenly became unfocused. "She… She and her husband were teachers at some school… I don't remember what school it was…"

"Was it perhaps the Xavier Institute?" Kitty urged.

The concierge stared blankly at her. "The mutant school? Maybe… I think the man did mention something like… no, no, that's not possible. Those two are good and respectable, honest workers and people, both of them."

Kitty scoffed. "This woman, respectable?"

The concierge nodded with a determined expression. "Yes, I'm sure of it."

Her eyes cleared. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"_Oui_," Remy smiled. "We'd lahk to check in."

The jaws of the other three X-Men dropped. Had he gone MAD?!

The concierge nodded. "How many rooms?"

Gambit rested his arm gently on her desk. "One room fo' Mr. an' Mrs. LeBeau," he said, looping his arm around Rogue's, "an' one fo' Mr. an' Mrs. Drake, _s'il vous plait_."

The woman glanced nervously at Rogue, who looked bewildered, and Kitty and Bobby, who refused to touch each other. "You're…married…?"

"_Mais oui_," Gambit told her. "_Ma femme_ and ah are from da South, and I tot it would be a good ahdea to visit her… er, family, up here in da North." The concierge still looked unconvinced, so Remy leaned in and whispered, "Mr. an' Mrs. Drake are havin' a l'il trouble wit deir marriage, ya know. Mrs. Drake wants kids, but Mr. Drake doesn't. We try an' help dem out, get 'em a hotel room together and dey reconcile, and who knows what else, _non_?" He grasped her hand tightly with both of his hands to plead with her.

At this, the concierge nodded and winked with a smile. "Gotcha." She handed them the keys. "Now, these are for rooms 223 and 225."

As they all stood in the ascending elevator, Kitty commented, "What luck that we'd get rooms right across from Scott's!"

Remy smirked. "It ain't luck, _chère_. Back when ah grasped dat woman's hands, ah slipped in a couple o' hundreds an' a note dat asked fo' doze rooms."

Rogue leaned back against the elevator walls. This was going to be a very long week.

* * *

Remy stood in the hallway, shuffling cards, already dressed in a suit coat and nice shoes. He had traded down his bright pink breast plate for a plain black, button down shirt, so as not to draw attention to himself, and he was wearing colored contacts, making his eyes look a muddy reddish-brown color. His hair was slicked back and tied, now visible because he didn't wear a black garment around his face and neck. He looked, Rogue admitted to herself, normal. Well, as normal as any suspicious character who grew up in a swamp pretending to be a rich man could look. At any rate, he didn't look like a mutant.

Rogue, meanwhile, had taken the liberty of temporarily dying her white hair streaks to be the same reddish orange color as the rest of her hair. She made sure to wear her gloves, as well as a long sleeved dress and elegant shoes, so she looked like a socialite and not a lunatic who wore gloves in the summer. The elegance of the clothes was a bit unnerving, but she had hoped to convince the employees of the hotel that she was indeed married to the rich Mr. LeBeau from New Orleans. Otherwise, they might be exposed as mutants.

They met Kitty and Bobby out in the hall. Bobby had dressed in an ordinary business suit, looking for all the world like a businessman. He had on a gray suit coat, blue button down shirt, a white tie, dark gray slacks, and black shoes. His usually wild hair was slicked back. Kitty was wearing a white sweater and cream colored skirt, looking sheepish.

"I'm on the run a lot," she admitted. "Not a lot of time to buy fancy clothes." The others assured her that she looked fine, as any decent wife of a successful businessman would look.

Kitty glanced at Bobby. "Where did you get a suit like that, anyway?"

Bobby didn't look at her. "I'm a certified public accountant. I usually wear this to work, but I took a vacation when I heard the X-Men needed me."

Kitty looked down. Bobby's confession reminded her of how much they had grown apart during the fifteen years since the X-Men split up.

As awkward as it was up in the hall with just the four of them, it was definitely more awkward in the dining hall. The four of them, dressed elegantly, stuck out like pins in a pin cushion. They didn't fit their grungy surroundings.

One of the waiters smirked. "No other hotels in town?"

Remy sneered at him. "Ah grew up in a place lahk dis. Unlahk you, ah'm successful, _maintenant_. (3)"

The waiter shut up at once.

Unfortunately, Scott and Emma didn't show up in the dining hall.

The X-Men went back up to the hallway. There were noises coming from inside the room. Rogue knocked, but no one replied.

"Let me do it!" Kitty demanded. She phased her head in through the door, but a moment after, pulled it out, blushing and looking flustered.

"What's going on in there?" Bobby asked.

"Let's just say that Scott… well… He's very toned…. Everywhere…."

"What are you - ?" Bobby's eyes widened as he realized what Kitty had seen. "You don't mean - ? But Emma would have known, and she'd be - "

Before he could say _furious_, the White Queen uttered a shriek of pure rage. The door flung open to reveal Emma Frost, in a skimpy white dress, and Scott Summers, wearing only his shorts.

"Well," he said as he adjusted his sunglasses, "This is awkward."

He was unshaven, and he looked tired and guilty.

His former teammates blinked at him.

"You…" Shadowcat started. She screamed in anger and slapped him so hard that if he hadn't been holding on with such a tight grip, his shades would have fallen off, tearing down the hotel. "I can't believe you! What about Jean?!"

Scott sighed. "I could never forget Jean."

Kitty waited for more, but he gave no further information. She was so angry that she started to cry in the middle of the hallway. "Fifteen years, Scott, I've been busting my butt trying to resist the Sentinels, and you've been in here, doing who-knows-what?! I can't believe this! I thought you were better."

"Sorry," Scott answered. His voice was tense, his answers brief.

"If it's any consolation," Emma said softly, "it started out as therapy for when Jean died. Then it became a mental affair. It's only recently that we've…" she trailed off, but everyone knew what she meant."

Kitty glared at her, arms crossed. "You know what?" she snarled. "I'm done with this. You two are absolutely perfect – perfectly despicable and perfect for each other." She spun on her heel and walked across the hall to the room she shared with Bobby.

Bobby followed her, shaking his head. "I may have turned my back on the X-Men," he whispered, as he turned back for a second, "but at least it never came to this. I was just one of the team, but you, Scott, you were a leader. Now? I don't know what to say." He continued across the hall without another glance, his head hung in defeat.

"_S'il vous plait_," Remy begged Scott. "Dere's a _petite_ mutant girl, an' she need us. She need us ta fahnd her friends, an' I promised her I'd get de X-Men an' help her. Now she's missin', and we need someone ta lead a team, so she has a team ta come back ta. She only a l'il girl…"

Scott was never connected to Lily, though. His response was short. "Sorry," he murmured as he shut the door.

The team was disconnected from each other, that was why everything failed, Remy thought. He pounded his fist against the wall and he silently swore to himself to reconnect the X-Men, in only because a thief always kept his promise – and he had promised a little girl that he would help her. He had no choice but to somehow find the connection between the X-Men that had long since been lost.

* * *

Translations:

1.) My God!

2.) She's too young! She's only a girl! I must find her!

3.) now


End file.
